Safer Shadow

SAFER SHADOW /James Harms So far we beUeve something happened yesterday. There is evidence in a friend's reluctance to talk. And I know you've sewn your pockets shut, that there's smoke where your heart used to be. But we've got to let go of aU that, of what we Uke about each other, or risk becoming photographs of bad judgment. Before we know it the air is blue and sUppery, evening vanishes up a sleeve. The piU I take reminds me of you, which is a lot Uke being you. Yesterday I coUected the pictures of us and wrote "Why?" in the borders. It's as if we never sat around wondering what to do. And then doing it. There's a fold of moonUght by the window, an envelope beneath the door, but neither holds instructions for sitting quietly in the arms of a shadow. And I've decided to be a holder of hands, though it wasn't my first choice. They were aU out of the gloves you wear. 74 · The Missouri Review ...